Just That?

The sudden turn of events made every armed guard present freeze, their eyes full of disbelief.

They had only seen Li Yèlái, surrounded on all sides, suddenly disappear from their sight.

The next second, he appeared behind them, holding a long blade—and right in front of Wang De.

How could they not be shocked by such a bizarre sight?

But the guards didn't dare move, either, because Li Yèlái's blade was already pressed against Wang De's neck.

All it would take was a slight lift of his hand to slit Wang De's throat.

The Detective, meanwhile, felt relieved. He knew exactly what had happened.

Li Yèlái had used Psychic Weapon's ability to disrupt everyone's vision.

For psychics, the ability could only disrupt their vision for a fraction of a second.

But for ordinary people, it could make them lose sight of their surroundings for more than a second.

That was long enough for Li Yèlái to cut straight through the encirclement, draw his blade from the black umbrella, and rush Wang De.

He had intimidated everyone in an instant.

At that moment, the Detective was immensely glad he had invited Li Yèlái.

If he had come alone, he would probably have been forced to swallow this insult.

Given how domineering Wang De was, if the two of them had kept pushing, he would likely have ordered his men to open fire.

To protect his family's secret, he truly wouldn't hesitate to kill two psychics.

But now, Wang De could only stare at Li Yèlái with a stiff expression, saying nothing.

Li Yèlái looked down at him. The living-room lights cast his shadow over Wang De, enveloping him.

Li Yèlái was genuinely getting angry. He had no interest in meddling in other people's family affairs.

But if psychics and a Forbidden Item were involved, then there was a huge, hidden danger.

If it got out of control, it could cause an unimaginable disaster and put even more innocent people in harm's way.

People like Doctor Wang, and that girl who had been eaten.

This old bastard was obstructing the investigation over some so-called family secret, and even threatening them with guns.

If things truly reached the point of no return, how many more people like Doctor Wang would get caught up in it and hurt?

Fortunately, even though wealth, status, and power made the world unfair in many ways,

at least death was fair.

At that moment, even Wang De, with years of experience as a Scavenger behind him, felt suffocated. His left hand had slipped inside his pajamas, as if he were about to pull out a weapon and fight back.

But in the end, he chose not to act. He knew that no matter how fast he was, he couldn't beat Li Yèlái's blade.

As Li Yèlái had said, "Go on, say that again. See what happens?"

If he tried, he'd be dead for real!

"Calm down! I know you're with the authorities, but pointing a weapon at civilians is hardly appropriate, is it?" Second Master Wang's son urged nervously.

Then the middle-aged woman spoke up. "Exactly! Who do you think you're threatening? Do you know what the consequences will be? Can you handle our retaliation? You should think about your family."

"Shut up, idiot!" Wang De growled, his expression grim. He had already seen the cold glint in Li Yèlái's eyes.

Those words had touched a nerve.

This man clearly wasn't someone who could be cowed by a family's influence. Threats like that would only backfire.

Wang De even suspected that his third daughter was trying to drive him to his death so she could inherit his estate.

So, after weighing his options again and again, Wang De looked at the armed guards and said, "Leave."

Then Wang De slowly leaned back against the sofa and said to Li Yèlái, "It seems you won't stop until you've investigated everything, will you? Why meddle in other people's affairs? If you just walked away now, you could get far more out of it. As a psychic, you must have plenty of expenses. Why not take the money and leave? All for some so-called sense of justice?"

Wang De had to be admired for knowing when to yield. He had none of his earlier bluster now, speaking with Li Yèlái calmly instead.

Li Yèlái replied flatly, "What's it to you?"

Wang De gave a quiet laugh, then said, "Young man, do you know? Some people are determined to pursue their sense of justice. I saw plenty of them back when I was a Scavenger."

Everyone found his words strange, but listened in silence.

Wang De spoke at an unhurried pace. "Back then, the wilderness was still extremely dangerous. You had to face packs of wild beasts, watch out for your own people stabbing you in the back, and sometimes you'd even encounter bizarre entities. In that kind of environment, they were both resilient and fragile, simple yet dangerous.

"They pursued what they believed to be right. Even when their ideals were laughable and childish, they never tired of it. They kept moving forward with conviction.

"And the most remarkable thing was, they were full of defiance, yet easily swayed by their emotions. But they all had one thing in common."

Wang De looked at Li Yèlái. "Do you want to know what it was?"

Li Yèlái didn't respond.

So Wang De said no more.

Only after Li Yèlái lowered his blade did Wang De pull his left hand out and use the sofa to slowly get to his feet.

Then he picked up a cane and looked at the girl in the white dress. "You want to know our family secret?"

"I want to know why my parents died," the girl in the white dress replied firmly.

"Just don't regret it. Come with me, then. All of you."

He left the room, leaning on his cane, only to find Li Yèlái following close behind.

Li Yèlái held the crimson blade in one hand, clearly on guard against him at all times—and against the armed guards following at a distance.

Wang De said nothing and kept walking.

Though he was nearly ninety, his steps were steady. Before long, he reached a room on the first floor.

The room was furnished plainly: an old bookcase, a shabby sofa, and a coffee table.

As everyone looked on in confusion, Wang De went up to a candlestick and turned it.

The bookcase slowly slid aside, revealing a staircase that led straight underground.

"What..." The other family members stared in astonishment. They had grown up here, yet had never realized there was a Secret Passage in their home.

"Come on. This is where our family's secret lies," Wang De said. Then he turned to the armed guards outside. "Guard this place. Don't let anyone in or out."

Then, after lighting a candle, he was the first to enter the Secret Passage.

The others followed his example and filed in after him.

They descended more than forty steps before reaching the bottom.

It was an old-fashioned basement, unusually spacious.

Wang De switched on the basement lights. They were dim and flickering, clearly long overdue for repairs.

By the faint light, everyone saw something strange.

A Blue Brick House?

There was actually a single-story Chinese-style Blue Brick House inside the basement?

Everyone was bewildered.

"This is my family's secret." Wang De approached the Blue Brick House and gently stroked its wall. "Its former owner built a mansion above it specifically to hide the secret. To keep it out of sight. Unfortunately, it still couldn't escape the Calamity Mist. In the end, it became my property. Is this what you people call a Forbidden Item?"

Li Yèlái and the Detective exchanged a glance. The Detective asked first, "What can this brick house do?"

"Exchange," Wang De said in a low voice, pushing open one half of the wooden door.

"Creak."

The old, neglected hinges groaned with a piercing scrape.

The door revealed the layout inside. There was only one thing in the room: an altar.

"Exchange what?" Li Yèlái asked with a frown.

"Almost anything. It will do its best to grant your wish based on what you offer as a sacrifice. Of course, bringing the dead back to life is impossible," Wang De said. "All you have to do is put the offering in the room before midnight and close the door. Once midnight passes, you'll receive the blessing."

"At first, I craved wealth, so I snuck in here and secretly made an offering. It was a dog I'd found. Once midnight passed, the dog was gone, and a piece of gold appeared on the altar."

"After that, I brought an offering here every time. Again and again. My fortune slowly grew, and I figured out the rules."

"You only have to tell the altar what you want and offer a sacrifice. Some things it can give you directly; for others, it has to guide you to a place where you can find them."

"Once, my arm was disabled. After I offered a live ox, it healed completely."

"If an animal could bring about results like that, what would happen if the offering were a human?"

"To test it, I lured a drunk here," Wang De said in a low voice.

His words made everyone's scalp tingle.

"You used a drunk as an offering?" The girl in the white dress stared wide-eyed, unable to believe it. She couldn't reconcile the grandfather she had once thought kind with someone capable of doing such a thing.

The Detective and Li Yèlái frowned as well. Wang De seemed even more confident now—he had actually admitted in front of the authorities that he'd sacrificed a living person!

"That's right. I sacrificed the drunk and got a map. I followed it to a box of gold and secured my footing in the Giant City. But it still wasn't enough. Not nearly enough. Fortunately, back then, no one would notice if a few people went missing. After sacrificing five people at once, I got a map and found the blueprints for a Heat Gun. By then, the laws in the Giant City had been thoroughly established, so I stopped making sacrifices." Wang De smiled faintly. "You can't arrest me."

"Something must have happened after that," Li Yèlái said. "If what you're saying is true, your descendants wouldn't have died."

Using a Forbidden Item came at a cost.

In the deals Wang De had made before, the offerings had been the price.

So that couldn't have been what caused the deaths in the Wang family.

There had to be another reason.

"Exactly," Wang De said in a low voice. "Someone discovered my secret and started threatening me. But with the altar in my hands, why would I fear threats? So he started going after my family. I deeply regret it, but I've never been able to find him. Even when I made a wish to the altar, all it could show me was a place he'd once stayed..."

Li Yèlái and the Detective exchanged a glance, then asked, "Can we examine the altar?"

"Of course." Wang De nodded slightly and stepped aside, acting completely compliant.

Li Yèlái went forward with his blade in hand, looked around the Blue Brick House, then pushed open the other half of the wooden door.

He saw the altar, which bore the unmistakable marks of age. This was no benevolent object.

He wondered whether Black Shadow had anything to do with this thing. Both required sacrifices, after all. But one used enemies Li Yèlái had killed as offerings, while the other demanded living flesh and blood.

Thinking this, Li Yèlái stepped into the room.

But the instant he crossed the threshold, everything changed!

A pair of scarlet eyes suddenly opened right in front of him, then instantly became a blurry figure.

It was a Heavy Armor Knight dressed in gray-white Plate Armor and wearing a silver cape!

A faint light flickered in his scarlet eyes beneath the helmet. He raised his spear and swung it down at Li Yèlái.

"Damn it, you old bastard!" Even though Li Yèlái had been on guard, he hadn't expected an enemy to appear right in front of him.

All he could do was bring his blade up with a sudden upward swing while leaning back, struggling to dodge the ambush.

"Clang!" The instant the spear clashed with the blade, Li Yèlái felt his hand go numb. His body tipped backward.

It was an extremely dangerous position, but for a psychic, it was a way to instantly put distance between himself and the enemy.

Li Yèlái kicked at the air. Psychic Barrier solidified the air beneath his right foot, allowing him to push off in midair.

Whoosh—Li Yèlái shot backward out of the Blue Brick House. He took several steps through the air, put ten meters between himself and the enemy, then righted himself.

But the instant he got back up, the Lancer Knight, still far away, dissolved into mist and vanished.

The next moment, he crossed more than ten meters and appeared directly in front of Li Yèlái.

His glowing red eyes locked onto his target, and he swung his spear down in an instant!

The sudden attack was so fast that Li Yèlái and the Detective's pupils contracted.

Was this Shadow Step from the Nether Path?

There was no time to think. Li Yèlái immediately disrupted the knight's vision.

Then he retreated again.

This time, the Lancer Knight, its vision disrupted, didn't keep attacking. It stood still.

The moment Li Yèlái was attacked, the Detective reacted as well.

He immediately drew the large-caliber revolver from his coat and fired three shots at Wang De!

Clearly, Wang De was behind Li Yèlái being attacked!

So killing Wang De outright was the only option.

But as a bell rang,

the three bullets aimed at Wang De stopped in midair.

Another translucent Heavy Armor Knight had appeared in front of him.

Its Psychic Barrier stopped the bullets. They couldn't move another inch.

Wang De held a Silver Bell in his hand. Looking at Li Yèlái, who had survived, he couldn't help sounding regretful. "What a shame. I was so close."

The sudden turn of events left everyone standing frozen.

"What's going on?" The girl in the white dress asked, her face full of shock.

For some reason, the knight that had suddenly appeared had attacked Li Yèlái, while another knight had appeared beside her grandfather. What was happening?

Hadn't they all been talking peacefully just now?

Why had they suddenly opened fire and started fighting?

"So I really was just a hair's breadth away from getting killed." Li Yèlái slowly let out a breath and regulated his breathing. "You were waiting for me here, you old bastard?"

If Li Yèlái hadn't been so alert and retreated so decisively, that spear would have run him through.

"Shadow Step, phasing and invisibility. A summoned creature? Is it an ability or the effect of a Forbidden Item?" The Detective looked at the two knights and gritted his teeth. "You bastard! So you were the culprit all along!"

In the incident where a chandelier had nearly crushed Second Master Wang, Li Yèlái and the others had noticed that someone had cut the chandelier down with a single slash right in front of everyone.

They had thought it was some psychic from the Nether Path who had reached the second awakening. They hadn't expected... it to be Wang De's own doing.

Wang De stood behind the Dual Blade Knight, his expression regretful. "If you had died just then, it might have been a good thing for you.

"Brave government psychics fought to the death against the culprit. They fell in the line of duty, but successfully protected Mr. Wang De and his family. It would have made a fine story. You'd be hailed as heroes and respected by everyone."

Li Yèlái said coldly, "Ha. You're a beast who killed your own family!"

"What does that mean?" the girl in the white dress asked in shock.

"Isn't it obvious?" The Detective watched the ghostly knight and said in a low voice, "The culprit who's killed your relatives over the past ten years is this man! Accident or mishap, it doesn't matter. A knight who can turn invisible and teleport is the perfect weapon, isn't it?"

The girl in the white dress stared at Wang De in disbelief, as if she wanted to hear his answer.

All he gave her was a quiet sigh. "You're all asking too many questions. It seems I left a clue when I killed my second son."

"Every year on your birthday, one of your blood relatives dies in an accident, and yet you've survived year after year." The Detective narrowed his eyes. "I thought it was revenge, but you were far too calm when Second Master Wang was attacked. Now I see. You're a piece of human garbage who's been devouring your own family's lives to stay alive!"

"You're still young. You don't understand the terror of feeling death slowly draw near. When I realized I was going to die—to grow old and die—my relatives and descendants were only thinking about fighting over my estate. Behind my back, they cursed me as an old bastard and wondered when I'd finally die."

Wang De paused, then continued, "So I made a wish to the altar, begging for eternal life. These unfilial descendants were the price I had to pay. Isn't that perfect?"

Then he looked at the middle-aged woman. "Third Daughter, when your uncle died, weren't you scared? You'd just made a deal about how to split my fortune after having me run over by a car. Then the very next day, he was crushed by one!"

The middle-aged woman's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor, her face pale. "No, I didn't! It was your brother's idea. I was against it! Dad, you have to believe me. I really didn't!"

Then Wang De looked at the trembling young man and said, "Your father was the same. He even bribed my personal doctor and planned to poison me. He didn't manage to kill me today, so he's lucky."

The young man was furious and shocked, but he didn't dare speak.

Over the past ten years, the one who had killed those Wang family members was none other than Wang De himself!

He had devoured his own kin like a monster, surviving until now! And now he no longer hid it—he had bared his terrifying fangs!

"Then... was my father killed by you too?" The girl in the white dress stared blankly at her grandfather.

She could hardly believe it. Her grandfather had always doted on her. Aside from investigating the family's secrets, he had granted almost any request she made.

Everyone outside the family thought Wang De was raising her to be his heir.

And this grandfather of hers was the murderer who had killed her father?

Wang De was silent for a moment, then smiled indifferently.

"You... monster!" The girl in the white dress trembled, while Detective shielded her behind him.

Detective shouted, "Looks like you have no intention of surrendering!"

He immediately called for backup through his communicator. Against scum like this, the Handlers wouldn't bother with any rules of honor. If they could gang up on him, they would!

But Detective realized there was no signal here at all.

This was the most secret of places, after all, so all signals had naturally been blocked.

Wang De looked at Li Yèlái. "Young man, do you remember what I told you? The greatest thing you people who pursue a sense of justice have in common... is that..."

"You're destined to die young!"

As the final word fell,

the Lancer Knight behind him swung his spear, tracing a perfect circle.

Then he vanished in an instant, turning into mist.

The next moment, he appeared directly in front of Li Yèlái, his spear already swinging down! It came with crushing force!

In response, Li Yèlái's Double Pupils gleamed with domineering light, and he let out a mocking laugh.

"That's it?"

Li Yèlái held his blade in one hand, wielding it like the Overlord Wielding the Halberd!

Single-Handed Eighteen Thrusts!